y as well as good will they could securely rely.

"The coppersmith agreed to undertake the work we wanted done, for a
moderate compensation, but we did not think it prudent to inform him
of our object, which he supposed was to make some philosophical
experiment. It was forthwith arranged that he should occasionally
visit the Hermit, to receive instructions, as if for the purpose of
asking medical advice. During this interval my mind was absorbed with
our project; and when in company, I was so thoughtful and abstracted,
that it has since seemed strange to me that Sing Fou's suspicions that
I was planning my escape were not more excited. At length, by dint of
great exertion, in about three months every thing was in readiness,
and we determined on the following night to set out on our perilous
expedition.

"The machine in which we proposed to embark, was a copper vessel, that
would have been an exact cube of six feet, if the corners and edges
had not been rounded off. It had an opening large enough to receive
our bodies, which was closed by double sliding pannels, with quilted
cloth between them. When these were properly adjusted, the machine was
perfectly air-tight, and strong enough, by means of iron bars running
alternately inside and out, to resist the pressure of the atmosphere,
when the machine should be exhausted of its air, as we took the
precaution to prove by the aid of an air pump. On the top of the
copper chest and on the outside, we had as much of the lunar metal
(which I shall henceforth call _lunarium_) as we found by
calculation and experiment, would overcome the weight of the machine,
as well as its contents, and take us to the moon on the third day. As
the air which the machine contained, would not be sufficient for our
respiration more than about six hours, and the chief part of the space
we were to pass through was a mere void, we provided ourselves with a
sufficient supply, by condensing it in a small globular vessel, made
partly of iron and partly of lunarium, to take off its weight. On my
return, I gave Mr. Jacob Perkins, who is now in England, a hint of
this plan of condensation, and it has there obtained him great
celebrity. This fact I should not have thought it worth while to
mention, had he not taken the sole merit of the invention to himself,
at least I cannot hear that in his numerous public notices he has ever
mentioned